Saturday, October 31, 2015

Rubio Argues That The Immigration System That Got His Parents Here Should Be Changed

At the Republican cabal 'debate', Rubio argued that the policy that brought his
parents here should be changed to meet the realities of the 21st
century.…

Wednesday evening's Republican cabal 'debate' will probably be best remembered for the
Republican candidates tearing apart the CNBC moderators, or for Rubio
getting the best of his mentor Jeb in a memorable exchange over
Rubio’s Senate voting record. Yet, one of the most significant moments
of the debate may have been Rubio’s mostly unnoticed attack on the
immigration policy that brought his parents to America.

Given a chance to expound upon his position on immigration, Rubio
took the opportunity to argue that the policy that brought his parents
here should be changed to meet the realities of the 21st century. Rubio explained:

Look, in addition to what Trump was saying is we also
need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents.
Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that
is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And
that’s the way my parents came legally in 1956.
But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now onhas
to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you
can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or
not you’re coming here to become an American, not just live in America,
but be an American.

Keep in mind that Rubio’s father was a bartender and his mother
was a housekeeper at a hotel after they emigrated from Cuba. They came
to the United States before the Cuban Revolution so they weren’t
political refugees either.
By arguing that the United States needs to shifts from a system that
is based on whether a person has a relative living in the United States,
to a merit system based on economic contribution, Rubio is essentially
arguing that America should no longer admit people like his parents.

Merit-based immigration systems award points based on the expected
economic contribution of the immigrants. In other words, high tech
workers, doctors and other people with highly specialized skill sets are
awarded high point scores and admitted, whereas workers in less
specialized, lower paying occupations like bartenders and housekeepers
are usually denied legal immigration status.
Rubio’s parents made it here under a legal immigration system
that isn’t rigidly merit-based. Now that he has reaped the benefits of
that legal immigration policy, Rubio wants to slam the door on other
families who could benefit from the same policy. Like Carson wanting
to gut the programs that helped him rise out of poverty and become a
successful surgeon, Rubio wants to end the immigration policy that
helped his family build the American dream from the bottom up.
Rubio’s immigration policy perfectly encapsulates the
Republican cabal’s hypocrisy. Now that he has benefited from our
nation’s legal immigration policy, he wants to slam the door shut behind
him, so others do not have the same opportunity as he and his family
were given.
Rubio could learn empathy from the Democrats. As Michelle Obama said of her husband at the 2012 Democratic Convention:

And he [President Obama] believes that when you’ve worked
hard, and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity…you
do not slam it shut behind you…you reach back, and you give other folks
the same chances that helped you succeed.

Rubio however wants to slam the door behind him, preventing
other immigrants from the opportunities that were given to his family.
Rubio wants to be pretender after all, and helping working class
immigrants come to America won’t further his personal ambitions, so he
has no use for them.

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